Yesterday I downloaded and installed this updated OpenGL renderer in Unreal v226: OpenGlDrv2.1.0.6_Gold.zip. Installation was as easy as dropping in the DLL and tweaking a few settings to raise the quality. It works much better than the Direct3D one, which was incompatible with anti-aliasing (half-pixel wide border around the picture).

But I noticed that the game has much more light now. Most scenes give dynamic, saturated, full range picture like it's Christmas. I quite like it. I previously beat the game while it was dark, and found it quite challenging on an LCD screen, which I assumed was intentional. *Why* is it that the standard "official" renderer outputs such a dark picture?

( screenshots omitted because of spam protection )

It is not a matter of the overall gamma, because the brightness of the large box to the right and the pistol doesn't change. Rather objects radiating light such as lamps, the sky or TV screens are great deal brighter. My "brightness" setting is 0.4, video adapter is GT 610.

I have never played the game on a Voodoo Glide. Instead I started with a Pentium II in software mode. A rock solid Windows 2000 system, without 3D hardware. A Voodoo probably costs a premium these days.

I thought that OpenGL was presented this way by nVidia, because my Half-Life also has very high constrast. But now I can see it can do both ways. The setting is not part of OpenGlDrv2.1.0.6_Gold.zip, which I am content with, but toggling it in Unreal Tournament (utglr36.zip) does indeed return the previous contrast level. I'm a bit lost among all the mods out there for classic games, and I've added the least amount of updates only (namely the two opengldrv.dll files).

With OneXBlending to False, a gamma correction doesn't seem to be needed for me. Slightly raised gamma never looked right before. Some objects and the Gold menu looked washed out.

The scene from that thread looks better with False to me. The body and the barrel receive about the same light as the wall. Whereas under Direct3D, the objects look superimposed onto the darker wall. (quite different from Shoober420's result) Same with the large box, which is glowing for no reason under Direct3D.

D3D:


OpenGL:


Software:


The settings I use. + 8x antialiasing in nVidia control panel.

[OpenGLDrv.OpenGLRenderDevice]
Translucency=True
VolumetricLighting=True
ShinySurfaces=True
Coronas=True
HighDetailActors=True
DetailTextures=True
GammaOffset=0.000000
LODBias=0.000000
MaxLogTextureSize=8
MinLogTextureSize=1
MaxLogVOverU=8
MaxLogUOverV=8
MaxAnisotropy=8
MaxTMUnits=3
RefreshRate=75
DetailMax=3
UseFisheye=False
NoFiltering=False
DisableSpecialDT=False
; distant textures were aliased and didn't
; seem to use trilinear with SGIS
UseFilterSGIS=False
Use4444Textures=False
UseTNT=False
UseS3TC=False
UseVertexSpecular=True
AlwaysMipmap=False
UseAlphaPalette=True
UsePalette=True
UseTrilinear=True
UseMultitexture=True
ShareLists=False
DoPrecache=True

The bug with DirectX anti-aliasing was the deal breaker for me, why I went for OpenGL. Use DirectX 10 and Vista for a game from 1999? I don't think so. : )

The multimedia patch 0.99 also works. It defaults in dark mode and, by setting OneXBlending to false, switches to bright mode. Also apparently the official OpenGLDrv.dll does work on ancient video adapters (instead of crashing). It is also dark.





The Flightcastle looks incredibly awesome with the hellish red glow inside and the reflective walkway!! Good job, Chris Dohnal. I'm sold that these are the right colors, and will probably play through another time to see everything. Also, the DLL does still load on Win98 (atm I can't whether it operates correctly due to lack of a 'powerful' w98 system).

OneXBlending FALSE:


OneXBlending TRUE:


The light level aproximately matches the Voodoo screenshot on Wikipedia, although they hack, slash and subsample all non-free pictures to please the 'fair' copyright police that you never know.

j7n wrote on Jan 12^th, 2015 at 10:48am:


I'll chime in just to say I've always been amazed at how bright people seem to have their game set. It might be because many people have the game "balance" gamma on taking screenshots, making screens ultra-bright, but most UT/Unreal screens are very whitewashed and luminous while both games seem like they should be quite dark. I'd say the best (what seems "correct" to me) brightness setting is one step down from default on the UMenu slider. I believe that's why, when I released Piraeus, people were able to see the end of the sea and the junction with the skybox, while my darker settings meant you couldn't and some parts of the map were in almost pitch-black darkness.

Quote:

I have seen pictures of the Flightcastle posted with gamma increased significantly, as a demonstration of Unreal's graphics. The castle should of course be low-key, but with good contrast throughout. After finishing the game with openGL, I get then impression that all objects now belong in the environments they are in, whereas with OneXBlending they often look superimposed over walls. A gamma in the monitor or video adapter of course affects the color of everything equally, walls and objects.

"The Darkening" level was also very much playable. I get about 4 levels of blue on walls and the weapon without using the searchLight or shooting, but only half that with D3D.

With openGL the game also starts and exits "cleanly". No longer I see the Windows desktop increase in brightness momentarily (because I don't use a gamma correction anymore), and the game doesn't hog the CPU after I quit it (or alt-tab).